People’s Conference leader Sajjad Gani Lone’s recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi “has united” Omar Abdullah’s National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party against him, ahead of the elections in Jammu and Kashmir. According to Lone, these two parties are so worried about his emergence that they are working together in Kupwara district in north Kashmir. He told this newspaper in Handwara, from where he is fighting the elections that “We are under attack from all sides after meeting Mr Modi.” “In Kupwara, NC is telling people ‘don’t vote for us, vote for PDP’,” and vice versa, in a bid to stop them from voting for Lone’s party. He added that he had spy camera recordings where NC and PDP leaders are seen saying this. He said that he met the PM because he felt that Delhi, which has always reached out to individuals in Kashmir, needed to reach out to the people of Kashmir. He said that it was time for an alternative discourse, that of the development of Kashmir and he availed of a “good opportunity” to bring to the notice of the PM “what all could be done in Kashmir”. Lone was also scathing in his criticism of Srinagar’s media, which he described as “white collar killers”.
Full interview: http://www.sunday-guardian.com/investigation/discourse-has-changed-in-kashmir